Treatments to die for

Abstract

It turns out that there are a few anecdotes of deaths from acupuncture administered by poorly trained therapists in Asia, but none in Britain. So we have to be frightened that we might die from acupuncture?1 And is orthodox medicine blameless? The Department of Health itself estimates that there are ‘some 850,000 adverse events in the NHS every year … resulting in additional costs in excess of £2 billion annually’.2 The charity Action against Medical Accidents works with around 4000 people every year who have been affected by ‘patient safety incidents’ (the term used by the NHS). Dr Stuart Gray, whose father died as a result of a massive overdose of diamorphine administered by an out-of-hours GP from Germany, says ‘It is deeply disturbing to be informed that so many NHS bodies still completely disregard the National Patient Safety Agency safety alerts’.3 A public inquiry is currently investigating the deaths of hundreds of patients at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Adverse events are not always immediately apparent. Radiotherapy to the breast is one example where many women have had progressive problems resulting in, for instance, bone necrosis and soft tissue fibrosis, leading in some cases to bone fractures, arm amputations, and second cancers.4 Indeed, according to Jan Stjernsward, ‘routine use of radiotherapy in early breast cancer … seemed to be associated with increased mortality, an iatrogenic failure’.5 However, complementary medicine, including acupuncture, can sometimes ameliorate such problems. So can we all please work in a truly holistic manner, and allow patients to use the best of complementary therapy together with all that orthodox medicine has to offer? It seems to me that orthodox medicine is in greater need than complementary of the maxim ‘First do no harm’.